Atmel's Latest ARM9-based Microcontroller Significantly Increases Internal Data Bandwidth

Rousset, France (ots/PRNewswire) -

- ARM926EJ-S-based MCU Provides 41.6 Gbps Internal Data Bandwidth,
Combines Networking with Human Interface Capabilities

Atmel(R) Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML) announced today the newest
member of Atmel's SAM9 family, the AT91SAM9263 embedding a 200 MIPS
ARM926EJ-S(TM )-based microcontroller that overcomes the bottlenecks
that occur with conventional ARM9(TM)-based MCUs in
graphically-interfaced, data-intensive applications such as networked
medical monitoring equipment and GPS navigation systems. The
AT91SAM9263 employs 27 DMA channels including Atmel's 18-channel
peripheral DMA controller (PDC), a 9-layer bus matrix, and two
additional busses for data- and instruction-tightly-coupled-memories
(TCMs) to boost CPU performance and provide on-chip data transfer
rates of up to 41.6 Gbps. Two external bus interfaces (EBIs) support
gigabyte-plus external memories.

Human Interface. On-chip human interface peripherals include a
camera interface, TFT/STN LCD controller, a 6-channel audio front-end
interface (AC97), I2S and a 2D graphics co-processor that off-loads
line draw, block transfer, polygon fill, and clipping functions from
the CPU.

Networking and Communications. Networking peripherals include a 12
Mbps USB host and device, a 10/100 Ethernet MAC and a 1 Mbps control
area network (CAN). There are also four USARTs, two 50 Mbps serial
parallel interfaces (SPI), CompactFlash(R), SDIO (MCI) and a two-wire
interface (TWI) which can be connected to external wired and wireless
communication modules like GPRS modem and Wi-Fi(R).

Peripheral DMA Controller Relieves CPU of Peripheral-to-Memory
Transfers -- Conventional ARM9-based processors use load/store
instructions that require at least 80 CPU cycles to transfer a single
byte of data between memory and a peripheral. Running at 200 MHz with
a bus frequency of 100 MHz, these processors typically reach the
limit of their capability at about 20 Mbps even with the memory
management unit and instruction- and data-cache controllers enabled.

Atmel's AT91SAM9263 integrates 18 simple, silicon-efficient,
single-cycle, peripheral DMA controllers (PDC), five DMA controllers
with burst mode support to the USB host, Ethernet MAC, camera
interface, LCD controller and 2D graphics controller, plus a
memory-to-memory DMA controller with burst mode, scatter-gather and
linked lists support. The DMA controllers completely off-load the
execution of data transfers between external serial interfaces and
memories. At a 20 Mbps data rate, Atmel's SAM9263 still has 88% of
its MIPS available for application execution.

Eleven-layer Bus plus 96 kBytes on-chip SRAM Eliminates Bandwidth
Bottlenecks. Atmel has implemented 11 busses and 96 Kbytes of on-chip
scratchpad SRAM on the AT92SAM9263. The SRAM can be partly configured
as tightly-coupled data and instruction memory (TCM). The busses
provide multiple parallel on-chip data transfer channels and a total
on-chip bandwidth of 41.6 Gbps.

Dual EBI Allows Simultaneous, Parallel Operation of the ARM9 CPU
and Graphics Processors. The AT91SAM9263 has two external bus
interfaces (EBI): one for the system memory and one for the human
interface. The second EBI eliminates the need for the LCD controller
and CPU to share memory and can increase available CPU MIPS by 20% to
40%.

Pricing & Availability. The AT91SAM9263 is available now in a
324-ball BGA package and is priced at sub US$10 for 100K parts.

About Atmel

Atmel is a worldwide leader in the design and manufacture of
microcontrollers, advanced logic, mixed-signal, nonvolatile memory
and radio frequency (RF) components. Leveraging one of the industry's
broadest intellectual property (IP) technology portfolios, Atmel is
able to provide the electronics industry with complete system
solutions. Focused on consumer, industrial, security, communications,
computing and automotive markets, Atmel ICs can be found Everywhere
You Are(R).

NOTE: Atmel(R), logo and combinations thereof, Everywhere You
Are(R) and others, are registered trademarks, or trademarks of Atmel
Corporation or its subsidiaries. ARM(R) and others are the registered
trademarks of ARM ltd. Wi-Fi(R) is a registered trademark of Wi-Fi
Alliance. Other terms and product names may be trademarks of others.

Information:

Atmel's AT91SAM9 product information may be retrieved at
http://www.atmel.com/products/AT91 /.

Press Contacts:
Peter Bishop, Communications Manager, Atmel Rousset
Phone: +33-0-4-42-53-61-50, Email: peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com
Helen Perlegos, Corporate Press Relations -- USA and Asia
Phone: +1-408-451-2855, Email: hperlegos@atmel.com
Veronique Sablereau, Corporate Communications Manager -- Europe
Phone: +33-1-30-60-70-68, Email: veronique.sablereau@atmel.com

Web site: http://www.atmel.com

ots Originaltext: Atmel Corporation
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Peter Bishop, Communications Manager, of Atmel Rousset,
+33-0-4-42-53-61-50, or peter.bishop@rfo.atmel.com; or USA and Asia,
Helen Perlegos, Corporate Press Relations, +1-408-451-2855, or
hperlegos@atmel.com, or Europe, Veronique Sablereau, Corporate
Communications Manager, +33-1-30-60-70-68, or
veronique.sablereau@atmel.com, both of Atmel Corporation